


Growing

by imthederpyfox



Series: Detroit: Become Human [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, After End, Androids, Angst, Arguing, Attacks, Blood, Bullying, Child Abuse, Coming of Age, Crying, Depression, F/F, F/M, Fighting, Fluff, Growing Up AU, M/M, No Explicit Sexual Content, Rape, Self Harm, Sometimes cute, Starvation, Violence, as we know, but not much has changed, but suggestions of said stuff, friends to relationships, hank is a good man, hank is the librarian, i cant do NSFW, i guess, it wont all be bad, let me know if i missed any, school au, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 11:33:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18281756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imthederpyfox/pseuds/imthederpyfox
Summary: You were used to the bullying when Connor came along. But even so, now that were two of you to face the idiots.Now you had a friend who knew how you felt, and you would do anything to protect him as well.





	Growing

**Author's Note:**

> (my friend asked me to think of some weird AU's that I've not seen from the DBH fandom before so I came up with this. I haven't seen a school based AU for DBH before)

The android uprising had happened a few years ago, but not much had changed. At school they taught you about what had happened, but you assumed their 'facts' were probably made up, considering they painted the androids as the  bad guys and the humans as the victims. Something didn't click right about that.   
Androids were now allowed to choose their own jobs, which was good. You often saw android police officers, teachers, Youtubers. You liked the change from only seeing them doing the 'less important' things. Being forced into it.   
A few of your classmates still hated androids, but you supposed if you got along with your parents like they did then you'd be inclined to believe what the older people said about androids. But you didn't. Androids were people, they just wanted to be seen as such. You remembered reading about similar things in the old books in the library when your parents were late to pick you up. Which was often. 

You had always tried to defend androids, but that didn't exactly make you popular with the other kids.   
And just as usual that was how you ended up near the AstroTurf, pushed over and hit a few times while the bigger kids laughed.   
You knew they'd keep going until they got bored or you faked that you didn't care for long enough. But today you felt their assault stop early. 

You looked up between your fingers to see a young boy stood above you, looking stern at the other kids.   
"Hey, tincan! Move out the way!" One of the kids said, pushing the boy back. But he stood his ground.   
"No, leave her alone!" The new kid said back.  
The bullies laughed, and pretty soon the young boy was on the floor next to you, his LED blinking. But he got up again, and again, and again. You joined in and soon, you were both getting chased by them. "Sorry, I thought I might be able to help!" The boy called to you over the sound of all your footfalls.   
"No problem!" You smiled, pulling him down a specific corridor and into a certain room once you were sure you'd lost them. The room you always came to when you were in trouble. 

The library. 

"Hey, what's all this noise?" An older man asked, walking over and folding his arms when he noticed you and the new boy stood at the door, panting. "Come on." He rolled his eyes, walking back round to his small computer desk and flipped a switch on the kettle. You still had a hold of the boys' sleeve and dragged him over to the desk before you let it go. "Who's your friend?" The man with the grey beard asked. His voice was gruff but he was kind. He looked after you.   
"He was getting bullied." You tried to explain why you'd bought someone else here, but you should have known Hank would understand.   
"Android, eh?" Hank grumbled, looking back to the boy. 

You looked at him too, for the first time you could look at your hero properly.   
He made you happy. You didn't quite understand that, but it must be the feeling of finding as friend? His brown - almost black - hair was scruffier than it had been when you first saw him earlier. His skin was pale and muddied - again because of earlier - and his brown eyes were warm and inviting. He smiled widely, fiddling with his hands with that LED flashing a pale blue. Yep, he definitely made you happy. You realised Hank was talking and looked back at him, tucking your (h/c) hair behind your ear. 

"Well, welcome to the school. I see you've already found your way into the no friends club." Hank chuckled. "Name's Hank. I look after this one here when she's in trouble. Which is most days."   
You looked down at that. It was true you managed to get into trouble a lot but it wasn't entirely your fault the other kids liked to pick on you. Or that your parents forgot about you. Or that the teachers didn't care to do anything. And you felt back for the new kid... because now he'd probably be stuck in your situation as well.  
Hank handed you both a nice warm drink before he wondered off to find some books for you to read. Most of the time you would just sit and chat with Hank while he patched up your wounds before reading for a while, sometimes asking the older man if he could tell you how to read one of the harder words. But you were quite good with reading - especially for someone your age. 

"I'm sorry." You found yourself telling the boy. You'd planned to say 'thank you', but that apparently wasn't what came out.  
He blinked at you, his LED flashing orange for a second. "What do you mean?" He asked. His voice was fun. Childlike with a hint of a rasp. You wondered if that was from the running or if it was natural. Well, programmed. Not that it mattered to you, really.   
"Um..." It took you a second to actually think about what you meant. "Well, now you'll be, ya know... bullied like me." You shrugged slightly. But he only laughed. You liked his laugh. Is this what it felt like to find a friend? Perhaps you HAD been missing out. "Oi, why are you laughing?!" You asked, punching his arm lightly.   
"I was already bullied." He shrugged. "I began school half way through today and the teachers told everyone me and my brother were androids."  
"That was mean of them..." you mumbled, not happy with the teachers. But that was normal.   
He shrugged again, a small smile playing on his lips. "This way we can both be part of the no friends club!"

He seemed so happy about that. You giggled. He seemed so innocent and yet was immediately willing to defend you without even knowing you. That day you swore you would protect him how he protected you, and you could tell he would continue to do so as well. You realised you were just smiling at him and shook your head slightly. "I think we might have to rename the club." You shrugged slightly and his LED flickered from orange to blue.  
"Oh... yes, I see." He nodded, his face was serious in thought now and you stopped yourself from laughing at how much thought he was putting into this. "How about the best friend club!" And there was that excited, contagious smile again.   
"I've never had a best friend before." You smiled, looking down. "I've never had a friend before."  
"That's ok, me neither." He shrugged again. "But I'd like to."

"Alright kiddos, here." Hank sighed, placing some books down on the desk. "Now I got to go make a call, you both gonna be ok here?"   
"Of course!" You beamed up at the older man, who offered a small smile back.  
"Right, as always." He rolled his eyes. "Stay out of trouble." You both said at the same time, he said it to you most days. "Right, I'll bring some plasters with me when I come back."  
Hank walked out and left you two alone. 

You chatted with the new kid for a while, sipping on your drink and munching on the biscuits Hank had given you while you showed him some of your favourite books.   
Eventually Hank returned and patched you both up before he left again to put the away some supplies.   
The boy seemed to love the plasters Hank had given you both, noting that he'd never had human plasters before. He seemed to become nervous after he'd mentioned it, like he was scared of pointing out that he was an android. You smiled as you munched on your biscuit. He relaxed after that, offering you back a smile in return. 

Hank came back again, folding his arms. "Young man, you have a boy who looks very similar to you asking if you're here."  
The boy looked up, his eyes widening. "Nines?" He asked, turning to you after. "It was nice to meet you, best friend." He grinned and you rolled you found yourself smiling back.   
"You too!" You held out your hand. "(Y/N)."  
He took it. "Connor." 

And just like that he was rushing off to who you assumed was his brother.   
Hank came back into the room after the boy had gone, and sighed. "Your parents are late again, want a lift home?" He asked.   
You looked at the clock on his desk. 4:27 PM. You nodded and he lead you outside to his camper van, making sure you had your seat belt on before you were allowed to pet his dog - Sumo. You loved Sumo, he was the animal version of a warm hug and you didn't get many of those. He rested his chin on your leg as Hank began driving you to your street.

He didn't know that your house was a couple streets away from where you always said, but he didn't question it. You liked Hank, he was a kind man and he made sure you were ok whenever you needed help. And now you had Connor as well, your new best friend! Perhaps you could meet his brother at some point as well? Then you'd have another friend to play with.   
You thanked Hank for the lift and gave Sumo one last scratch before you ran back home. The shouting voices of your parents or the red smoke coming from the kitchen didn't seem to bother you as much that night.   
Thankfully your parents didn't have company so there weren't strange people your parents called friends coming into your room to mock you or scare you, and your parents actually decided to leave you alone for once. Bar a few instances of telling you to make them dinner and to get them another beer. 'Useless kid' they would mumble every so often, but tonight you were a lot luckier than normal. 

You lay in your bed that night, hearing some laughing coming from downstairs, every so often hearing the coughing and small arguments as well.   
You sighed and closed your eyes, though you doubted you'd be able to sleep. You were excited for school more than usual. School was horrible with the bullies, but it was an escape from your home life. And school with a best friend? You didn't know what the fluttering in your stomach was but it felt nice. It was different that when your stomach dropped and a dark pit filled it. It was nice. 

You wondered what you and Connor would talk about, what books you'd read in the library, if you'd get to meet his brother? There were too many possibilities to fall asleep.  
Thankfully a few hours later you managed to drift off, and for once your nightmares were interrupted. Not by your parents dragging you out of bed or shouting at you, but by the boy with the LED and the big brown eyes standing in front of your demons. He turned to you and smiled that silly smile, leaning forward and holding his hand out for you to take. You let him help you up and you both turned to face the shadows together, ready to run the breach and charge into battle because you both KNEW the other wouldn't let you get hurt. 


End file.
